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Did You Know?
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Did you know that that Cheerful Givers collected 369 boxes of stuffing for Fransciscan Brothers of Peace
in St. Paul?
This donation helped them provide about 500 meals at Thanksgiving.
Thank you for your generosity!
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HOly HeroEs
Feast Day |
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 The Angelus
Ring Out The Good News
December 2012
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Greetings! "The Gift of the Magi" is the title of a short story written by William Sydney Porter, who wrote using the name, "O. Henry." "The Gift of the Magi" was published in 1906. For many decades after, it was read and reread by adults and children during the Christmas season. It no longer has the popularity it once enjoyed. However, it remains a very good and meaningful story for the Christmas season. It is a story about a young couple, Jim and Della Young, who were very much in love. On Christmas Eve they both wanted to find a special gift to give to the other. However, the family's entire savings amounted to $1.87. (Sixty cents was in pennies.) Della's great pride was her gorgeous hair. As the author describes it, "Della's beautiful hair fell like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee." Jim's great pride lay in the gold watch that had belonged to his father and his grandfather before him. Skipping to the end, Della cut her hair and sold it so that she could buy Jim a beautiful platinum chain for his watch. At the same time, Jim sold his gold watch so he could buy a set of beautiful combs, made of tortoise shell, rimmed with jewels, for Della's splendid hair. Continued Fr. Sieg's article |
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 CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Presented by St. Michael Music Ministry
by Angie O'Brien, Director of Music Ministry
St. Michael Music Ministry presents a Christmas Concert! Come celebrate the sounds of the Christmas season by joining us for one of our Christmas concert performances. The last time the Music Ministry performed a Christmas concert was five years ago in 2007. At that time, many parishioners asked for more than one performance of the concert. We will be offering two performances:
Saturday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday matinee performance on December 16 at 3:00 p.m.
The concert will involve 140 singers and instrumentalists. The Joyful Light Children's Choir and Radiant Light Youth Choir will open the concert with "We Shall Prepare" a Christmas Cantata. They have been working hard on memorizing the music in addition to learning actions that will accompany many of the songs. Their performance will include readings, many solos sung by children, in addition to a special candle-lighting, and a youth dancer from our parish will perform on two of the songs. They will be accompanied by piano, drums, guitar, bass, violins and cello.
After the children and youth choirs, the Teen and Young Adult Choir will perform contemporary selections. The Teen and Young Adult choir continues to grow each year and has grown enough to perform as their own ensemble for this concert. Eighteen talented high school students will be singing for the concert! They will be singing contemporary Christmas selections by well-known artists, such as Casting Crowns and Point of Grace.
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By Church of St. Michael Parishioners
Coming from a large family, Christmas has always been a special time of year. Some of my best memories are playing in the snow with my brothers & sisters, the neighborhood kids, and my visiting cousins. Growing up in South Dakota we did not have any hills to ski on so we would construct a ramp in the back yard out of snow and cover it with water and ski/sled down it. - Jim Anderson
One of the best Christmas memories I will always have is my mom's last and our son's first Christmas. Mom died of ALS and even through her pain when she was holding our son (now 42!), the pure joy and love that radiated from the two of them was all I needed for Christmas. - Liz Beissel
When I was a little girl, our family worshiped at St Elizabeth's Catholic Church in South Minneapolis. Each year as Christmas approached, "miraculously", the entire "side alter" would be transformed with large fir trees adorned with blue twinkly likes, like stars in the sky, and a small simple stable. Each Sunday during Advent, I would see the empty stable and think about the coming of the baby Jesus. Then Christmas finally came, and His story was told. The familiar figures appeared in the stable. After Mass, many families and children would go to the stable and kneel down to "say a prayer and pay our respects, just like the Shepherds", as my Dad would say. I remember looking into the loving faces of each figure as they gazed down at the Babe in the manger. I loved hearing the story, and as I visited the stable, I imaged I was like the ones who came to adore the Child; born to us. Still more than fifty years later, I can close my eyes and see it all. I thank and pray for the volunteers who made Jesus' birth come to life for me. This Christmas season, may the blessings of our time and talent be the gift we bring to the manger. - Barbara Stark
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PARISH COUNCIL CORNER
By Jim Anderson, Chair
In the spirit of thanksgiving, the Parish Council would like to express our thanks to all the volunteers who signed up at our recent Ministry Fair, and to those parishioners who have given their time, talent, and treasure year after year for the benefit of our parish and community. Our parish community could not carry out God's work without your passion, commitment, and generosity. As we move into our first week of Advent, let us pray and remind ourselves what Advent is about. It is building up to, and celebrating, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ (Christmas) and not about the gifts under our trees. Please consider showing your thanks to God for our many blessings by looking for opportunities to serve those in need in our communities during the Advent and Christmas season.
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UPCOMING NEWS & EVENTS
ADVENT/CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE CARD
To view our Advent & Christmas Services Card please open the link and this includes information on Holy Day's, Reconciliation Services, and Christmas Mass times: Advent/Christmas Schedule
FAITH FORMATION RAFFLE CALENDARS
Calendars will continue to be on sale after all Masses and in the Parish Office until December 16th.T he cost is $20 and they benefit our Faith Formation Programs. Calendars will be on sale after all Masses and in the Parish Office.
PARISH BULLETIN DEADLINES
- December 22 & 23 - Bulletin articles are due Thursday, December 13th by 9:00 a.m.
- December 29 & 30 - Bulletin articles are due Thursday, December 13 by 9:00 a.m.
- January 5 & 6 - Bulletin articles are due Monday, December 31 by 5:00 p.m.
Please plan ahead and send your articles to Christi Fletcher early and please note which bulletin your articles are for. Christi can be reached at 952-447-9045 or emailed at: cfletcher@stmichael-pl.org. PARISH MAJOR EVENTS CALENDAR Please see the following link for major events for our parish:
YEAR END GIFTS
In this season of gift giving to family, friends and those less fortunate, we hope that you will also consider a gift to the Church of St. Michael. It is through the donations of every individual and family in our parish community that we are able to carry on our work and ministry. Besides online donations or gifts of cash, donations of stock are also an option. Be sure to check with your financial advisor regarding year end donations. Also, you can check with your Human Resources Department at work to see if your employer provides matching grants for your financial donations. Donations sent by check count for 2012 as long as they are post marked by December 31, 2012. . You can go to the following link for online contributions at: http://www.stmichael-pl.org/about-us/financial-giving.
THE ANGELUS - JANUARY 10, 2013 EDITION Our next edition of The Angelus will be emailed out on Thursday, January 10th instead of Thursday, January 3rd. Wishing all a blessed Advent, Christmas, and Happy and Healthy New Year. ST. MICHAEL CATHOLIC SCHOOL GALA - FEBRUARY 2, 2013 The Gala Planning Committee is working to create another wonderful event on February 2, 2012 Our annual Gala Dinner and Live and Silent Auction is always well attended by families and friends of St. Michael Catholic School . It is an event you don't want to miss and there is dancing too! Click on the link below to take advantage of the "early bird" discount for purchases before December 31, 2012: $65 per person ($75 per person after December 31, 2012). On Gala page, click on "Catalog" to view auction items already donated! "But Wait - There's More" - If you purchase tickets before midnight December 12, 2012 (12/12/12), your name will be included in a drawing to win 4 tickets to a Timberwolves vs. Dallas Mavericks game on Saturday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. (Seats Section 237, Row D, Seats 1-4). So click below, and purchase your tickets and get ready to have a great time on Saturday, February 2, 2013: St. Michael Gala - 2013.  SAVE THE DATE - APRIL 26-27 2013 APRIL 28, 2013 - KC BREAKFAST BENEFITS - SPRINGFEST Please plan to attend and look for more SpringFest 2013 news in our bulletin the weekend of December 15th and 16th. Special thanks to Greg Preslicka, parishioner with Greg Preslicka Studios for designing our new logo!  |
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"Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance." (Philippians 2:5-7)
Sincerely,
Fr. Tom Sieg, Pastor
Church of St. Michael
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